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An Extended Interview With the 2006 Entertainers of the Year

Yesterday, we reported the exciting news that the Grey's Anatomy cast was named Entertainment Weekly's entertainers of the year. Clearly, the Insider agrees they are a deserving bunch. Below is the full article from the publication explaining why it made its choice:

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Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo are snuggled in a rumpled bed, and he is looking at her. And by looking at her, we mean looking at her.

It is the look that has sent several fictional lives on Grey's Anatomy into dramatic tailspins and has given millions of fans endless fantasy material.

A patient Patrick Dempsey morphs from smoldering leading man to bemused costar to, finally, stern taskmaster: "Quiet, close your eyes, and breathe deeply." She does, and for a take or two, it works â€" Dempsey, as Dr. Derek Shepherd, can peacefully (well, except for the snoring) observe his lover, Dr. Meredith Grey, as she slumbers.

Then her laughter breaks loose again, and Pompeo storms off the bedroom set, shouting, "I can't work with him anymore!"

She is careful, later, to explain that this was just a joke (people are a bit sensitive around the set of the ABC hit these days). But emotions do run high â€" and fast â€" when it comes to Grey's Anatomy. Its myriad moods change from sexy to funny to dramatic to silly, making for an intoxicating thrill ride that is as unpredictable as it is unmissable.

Since their first half-season in 2005, Seattle Grace's improbably hot surgical staffers have gone from midseason replacements to bona fide stars. And now, having relocated to the toughest time slot on TV, Grey's has become nothing short of a phenomenon, luring an average of 21.4 million fans every week and consistently topping Thursday-night behemoth CSI in the 18-49 demographic.

How did they do it?

"The characters are so human," says ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson. "Life is messy, it's funny, it's tragic, it's dramatic, and this show captures that."

For maintaining that deft dramatic balance, for performing a powerful emotional alchemy that transforms the hospital-show genre into something exciting rather than exhausted, and for casting perhaps the most telegenic assemblage of actors in the last decade â€" for all of these reasons, we have chosen the cast of Grey's Anatomy as our Entertainers of the Year.

And just before a will they or won't they moves into eye-rollingly tiresome territory, most of these couples do â€" sometimes successfully, oftentimes not. The triangles keep evolving. And nobody, especially our put-upon title character, is above making some astoundingly bad judgment calls.

The Meredith-George liaison "was shocking, even for me personally," says Pompeo, 37 (Knight, along with Walsh and Heigl, declined to participate in this story.) "I've been kissing Patrick since I met him, but I was like, No, that's my T! I can't make out with him!"

Adds Sandra Oh, 35, who plays tightly wound Dr. Yang, "When we saw that for the first time at a table read, we were like, Nooooo!"

That's precisely the reaction creator/exec producer Shonda Rhimes, 36, was hoping for. "When people say they hate what's happening, and then go on to describe in detail everything they hate, I know they're really paying attention and have strong feelings about the characters," she says.

"That's a good sign."

True enough: Few other shows can inspire so much fan ardor with such flawed characters.

"You see them when they're not nice, but by the end of the episode they're doing something heroic," says James Pickens Jr., 54, who plays chief of surgery (and former lover of Meredith's mom, Ellis) Richard Webber. "The show takes you through these murky waters of these people's lives, and you come back because you want to see them heading north again."

Pompeo certainly spends a good part of her press time defending her boy-crazy, whiny alter ego.

"If Meredith Grey were a man," she insists, "everyone would say, Oh, how interesting he is!"

But recent addition Eric Dane â€" a.k.a. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan â€" would like to see Pompeo's broke-up-a-marriage story line and raise her a no-discernible-redeeming-qualities character.

"Dr. Sloan's the most flawed," Dane, 34, contends. "But he's just trying to cope with his issues, and using some pretty interesting tools to cope."

He needn't worry too much. The show's audience has easily embraced new additions like Dane, Walsh, and Sara Ramirez, 31 (brash orthopedic surgeon Callie Torres). The secret, Rhimes says, is to make sure they're integral to developing story lines and to give them a hell of an entrance â€" like Sloan stepping out of the shower wearing a cloud of steam and not much else, which Rhimes calls "one of my favorite moments ever."

The weekly medical cases are just as satisfyingly over-the-top, from the grotesque (kid impaled by tree), to the naughty (a couple stuck together mid-coitus), to the grippingly personal (Bailey's husband in brain surgery while she's giving birth), to the spectacular (an explosive lodged inside a patient's chest). All of them, of course, resonate metaphorically with the doctors' own struggles.

"To have these deep, disturbing medical cases and also have us laughing about our love interests is really powerful," says Ramirez. Are the medical maladies ridiculous sometimes? Sure â€" but they're rarely boring.

"Real doctors do not have this many amazing cases," says Justin Chambers, 36 (Dr. Alex Karev), "but we need to be appointment television every week."

That said, being appointment television brings with it certain rites of passage â€" and this fall, the cast experienced a big one: the behind-the-scenes scandal going public. An on-set blowup between Dempsey, 40, and Isaiah Washington, 43, received almost instant, worldwide press.

The attention increased exponentially when it leaked out that Washington had reportedly used a homophobic slur during the dustup â€" and 10 days later Knight confirmed he is gay via a statement to People magazine.

At that point, everyone on Grey's Anatomy experienced first-hand the dark side of the hit-TV-show spotlight. "We learned that we have to watch what we say," explains Washington (who plays the sexy, aloof Dr. Burke). "We have to make sure we're more accountable."

Dempsey says getting past the flap has strengthened the cast's bonds: "I think the explosion really healed the show.... No one passed the buck, and everyone owned up to the situation and moved on."

Fans have remained loyal, and the ratings haven't suffered. Now all Rhimes and Co. need to do is figure out how to keep our hearts pounding, while also moving the show beyond twisted romantic geometry.

"I'm more interested in what happens when a couple stays together," Oh says. "I'm thinking of, like, The Sopranos, with Tony and Carmela's relationship â€" that sort of thing really allows you to move with your character."

Rhimes agrees.

"I hate when characters keep breaking up for no reason," she says.

She promises the surgeons will progress, both professionally (in Grey's Anatomy time, they've only been interns for six or seven months) and, more importantly, with the fascinating and maddening character development viewers have grown dependent on.

"I like things to happen," Shonda says. "I like characters who mess up. And I want to make this a show that I want to watch."

Follow Grey's Anatomy

Anki•January 03, 2007 12:07

Weddings? Engagements? You, optimistic people. All signs are pointing in the same direction: Addison is pregnant with Derek's child. And you know what that'll mean. Meredith would never let him leave his child, they way she was left by her father. Which basically means I'll have to stop watching. I've aldready wasted enough time agonizing in front of the telly. I can't take any more Mer-Der heartache.

Anon•January 02, 2007 18:12

I have seen reports that there will be a wedding AND a proposal so i think that this is a picture at the george/callie wedding and mer/der just got engaged. It would explain the looks on their faces and you can't see her other hand so there could be a ring on it and we just can't see it...That would be perfect!!

guest•January 01, 2007 22:49

The article was a good one! The picture of Mer/Der was great! They are such a cute couple! I figured Ellen just got tickled during that particular scene for whatever reason, as I'm sure all of them do from time to time when they are doing a scene. But, Why would you chose to laugh during a bed scene with Der??????I think I would have tried to hold back on the laughs..(haha) Again, Patrick and Ellen just make the perfect couple to me and the picture of them........they just look like a real life couple! Congrats to the cast for being named Entertainers of The Year and I hope that they WIN BIG @ the People Choice and Golden GLobes next week!

sammie•January 01, 2007 19:16

mer and derek are so cute together~!!!! why was ellen laughing? ohh

McDreamyDreamer•January 01, 2007 06:51

Wonder why Ellen was giggling...

An[0]nym[o]uZ•December 30, 2006 13:23

Hope I can get the magazine also, I don't know whether it's published in my country (which is still airing the 2nd season of the show, so I can only follow the story from this website). Can't wait for the new episode on Jan though... AWESOME PICTURE AND ARTICLE!!! I just love to see Mer/Der together... Is the picture really about the wedding?? And there's a wedding on the next episode for sure? Hate that I won't be able to watch it.

Burke Backer•December 28, 2006 19:46

I bought the magazine and it is really a nice article. I was a little disappointed that the beautiful cover picture is of Cristina, Meredith, Derek, and Bailey. Where is my Burke???? He has a picture inside and is quoted iin a couple of places, but I wish he had been on the cover along with Cristina. I love Bailey, but it would have been nice to have the cover show both of the primary couples on the show.

Burke Backer•December 27, 2006 03:16

Well, you have very good eyes, GAfanatic. I saw another picture that shows Burke sitting in a chair and Cristina in a red dress standing across from him. Definitely not a wedding dress. So sad. They look happy though and it is definitely a celebration. The photographer though was a person who works for Entertainment Weekly so I think it is just a photo shoot and not from the show.

Chelsea•December 26, 2006 18:32

What?! January 11th?? I was barely getting by waiting until January 4th! But hey, they're going to start re-running the episodes from season one on Lifetime starting January 7th, so that's something.

Nameless•December 25, 2006 14:51

IM pretty sure this is a phto shoot and not from an episode just from some of the other pictures in the magizine. If you havn't seen it yet there is a picture with Eric, Sara, and Chandra who look to be in a mens restroom. They look good but I don't always get what their point is in some photo's. But anyway everyone looks good and the article is very interesting. Can't wait for Jan. 11 this break was way to long but there is about 4 less episodes this year also. With Feb. being sweeps month things are going to get really hot.

We're all going to die. We don't get much say over how or when, but we do get to decide how we're gonna live. So, do it. Decide. Is this the life you want to live? Is this the person you want to love? Is this the best you can be? Can you be stronger? Kinder? More Compassionate? Decide. Breathe in. Breathe out and decide.

Did you say it? 'I love you. I don't ever want to live without you. You changed my life.' Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it, but every now and then, look around; Drink it in 'cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow."